


Baby I'm Coming Home To You

by AllegroCrescendo



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Military, Alternate Universe - Teachers, Established Relationship, M/M, Military, Military Background, Military Homecoming, nothing but fluff, victor is a sergeant, yuuri is a teacher
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-07
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2019-03-15 00:35:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13601805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllegroCrescendo/pseuds/AllegroCrescendo
Summary: Victor is returning home after deployment and enlists the help of two of Yuuri's students on making his homecoming a memorable one for Yuuri.__________“Samantha, Julio, I would like for you two to meet Sergeant Victor Nikiforov, fiance to your AP World History teacher, Mr. Yuuri Katsuki,” Mr. Perez announced, swiveling around his computer screen to reveal a handsome man on the screen.Sergeant Nikiforov beamed at the mention of their teacher’s name.Ah.All the pieces began to fall into place now.





	Baby I'm Coming Home To You

**Author's Note:**

> Hellohellohello,
> 
> Allegro here!!
> 
> It's 1:35 am so I'm going to be very quick! Unbeta'd so there might be mistakes. Point any out to me!
> 
> I know I promised this fic over the weekend but life kicked me while I was done and then shoved me into the gutter, so here's to me cranking it out! It's actually much longer than I intended, I had to upload it in three's so archives could process it all!
> 
> So I have a friend who is in the Marines and I planned his homecoming for his girlfriend, one of my closest friends, with him! I asked him for help on writing my take on a homecoming, and while I did try to stay as realistic as possible, I took some artistic liberties! 
> 
> Without further ado, enjoy 'Baby I'm Coming Home To You'!

“I swear if you got us in trouble, Julio Antonio Vargas, I will send you straight to _hell "I_ didn’t do anything. Especially not Sophomore Year because that jeopardizes my chances into getting AP classes Junior Year and then I won’t have a good GPA and if I don’t have a good GPA I can’t get into Columbia.”

Samantha gave him a dead look. “Be real.”

“Fine, fine!” Julio threw his hands up. “I guess I’ll settle for UC Berkeley.”

Samantha groaned and smacked him upside the head. “We are talking about right here and _now_ Julio! Did you do anything to piss off Mr. Perez?” 

Julio looked ahead as they walked down the narrow corridor of the administration office building to the principal’s office. They both had been in their AP world history class when they were suddenly pulled out by a call slip summoning them both to the principal’s office. Mr. Katsuki, their teacher, had looked at them seriously over his blue-rimmed glasses and said that if they needed help with anything afterward, to not hesitate to ask him. Julio had brushed it off, knowing he did nothing wrong. But now, at Samantha’s anxious insistence and the wait outside of Mr. Perez’s office definitely did not help. 

The duo stepped into the principal secretary’s office. It was a small room with enough space for filing drawers, a couple of chairs, and the secretary’s workspace that consisted of an L-shaped desk and three computer screens. Julio vaguely wondered how the screen didn’t hurt Mrs. Goodman’s eyes, but then he remembered that the older woman wore a hell of a prescription. 

“Mrs. Goodman?” Samantha announced their arrival. She was ironically the most confident of the two, despite her nervous nature,

Mrs. Goodman looked up at them and smiled tenderly. She was an older lady dressed in a pastel yellow dress with a white cardigan hanging loosely over her thin frame. Her skin was creased with age and smile lines. “Ah! Hello. I take it you’re here to see Mr. Perez? 

“Mhm,” Julio nodded and handed the call slip to Mrs. Goodman. She took it and read it carefully as if deciphering her own handwriting. “Both of us got called out of Mr. Katsuki’s class.”

Mrs. Goodman looked up at the both of them. “Samantha Tanaka and Lea Isabel Vargas?”

“ _Anak ng puta_ ,” Julio swore under his breath. 

Samantha placed a sympathetic hand on Julio’s shoulder and nodded. “Actually, he goes by Julio.”

Mrs. Goodman stared at the two of them confused for a while. Julio bit back another curse and swallowed any anger before it could bubble up. The old woman smiled and shook her head, some of the stringy blonde pieces that had been tied up into a bun falling out in front of her face. “I’ll go tell Mr. Perez you’re here.”

When the old lady stood and walked into the principal’s office, Julio let out a frustrated growl. “It really grinds my gears…”

“Hey,” Samantha squeezed Julio’s shoulder comfortingly. Julio glanced back at her and Samantha smiled softly. “It’s okay. Two more years and you can officially change it.”

Julio took a deep breath and nodded, reaching up to squeeze his best friend’s hand. “I’m just, ugh,” He groaned and shook his head in disgust. Samantha interlocked their hands and rubbed his knuckles. Julio looked up at her and smiled gratefully. Samantha was his best friend since the third grade and helped him through thick and thin. In return, Julio was always there for Samantha. They relied on each other like a symbiotic relationship. 

(He had even torn the hair out of the bullies who teased Samantha, calling her a mutt while dunking a bowl of mashed peas and mushy rice onto her head. Julio instantly pounced, pulling on Nancy’s damn ponytails until the noon-aide pried his 4th-grade hands off of her, tearing hair with it.)

“ Mr. Perez is ready to see you both, now,” Mrs. Goodman announced when she returned to the room. Dipping their heads in gratitude and murmuring a quick ‘Thank you’, they released their locked hands and walked into the principal’s office.

Mr. Perez was sitting at his desk. Behind him, two bookshelves full of folders, records and books were separated by a long drawer. The drawer itself was decorated with several framed photos and a globe. Above the drawer, sitting snugly between the two bookshelves was a painted portrait of their school mascot; a very imposing Knight sitting atop a horse. Julio tried not to look at it too much because it made him uncomfortable, but the more he looked at it, the more he couldn’t look away.

“Samantha, Lea, please, take a seat,” Mr. Perez gestured to the leather cushioned seats in front of his desk.

Before Julio could open his mouth to argue, a lightly accented voice on the computer beat him to the punch. “Actually, Mr. Perez, he goes by Julio,” came the curt voice. 

Mr. Perez stared at his computer screen in surprise before nodding. “My apologies, Julio,” he bobbed his head at the Filipino teen before returning his gaze to the computer, “And to you, Sergeant Nikiforov.”

Samantha looked up at Julio, brows furrowing in confusion. Julio could practically see the gears turning in her head. Julio himself began to iron out all the befuddlement in his head. He and Samantha were both in Mr. Perez’s office, Mr. Perez was talking to some sort of military personnel, and the military personnel knew his pronouns. How did any of this make sense? 

“Samantha, Julio, I would like for you two to meet Sergeant Victor Nikiforov, fiance to your AP World History teacher, Mr. Yuuri Katsuki,” Mr. Perez announced, swiveling around his computer screen to reveal a handsome man on the screen.

Sergeant Nikiforov beamed at the mention of their teacher’s name.

Ah.

All the pieces began to fall into place now. 

Mr. Nikiforov smiled a dazzling smile at the both of them and Julio felt his little gay heart clench, which was odd because if Mr. Katsuki was 25, how old was his fiance? If they were the same age, that was a 10-year difference, and Julio wasn’t about those 10-year differences. Staring dumbfoundedly at the screen, Julio said the first thing that came to his mind. 

“You’re really hot.”

Samantha choked, hand involuntarily coming up and slapping him behind the head, hard. Mr. Perez stared at Julio in shock and bewilderment, and Julio almost thought he was going to apologize on Julio’s behalf, but then Sergeant Nikiforov just started laughing. Laughing loudly and doubling over. Julio could see how their teacher could fall in love with such a person. He was drop-dead gorgeous. He had that nice, (Russian?) accent and damn could he smile. Not that Julio would ever go for him, but damn. Mr. Katsuki was one lucky man. 

“I really appreciate that,” Sergeant Nikiforov said. He had been sitting on a bed, presumably on his laptop. He was dressed in his camouflage get up, the tag on the right side of his chest declaring “Nikiforov” while the left declared “U.S. Marines”. What perhaps shocked Julio the most was that his hair had been grown out passed what Julio imagined (weren’t all Marines supposed to be bald?). His silver locks were slicked back on the sides, but his bangs fell in front of his left eye. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be bald?” Julio was just saying really smart things today. Damn his no filter.

“I’m also towards the end of my tour so,” Sergeant Nikiforov shrugged. “I’m lucky my hair grows fast. I just slick my hair back on the sides now and tie up the top to be able to hide it under my utility cover when I’m around others.” 

“Right,” Julio nodded. He had a lot of questions. A lot. It’s not as if he didn’t know about Mr. Katsuki’s fiance. If asked, Mr. Katsuki was willing to write entire epic poems about his fiance, he was sure. And a picture of Mr. Katsuki and Sergeant Nikiforov was his background on his personal laptop. One day when the class had wanted to watch a movie Mr. Katsuki said was a wonderful Japanese film while they were studying the Meiji Restoration, the school provided laptop had blocked Netflix. When Mr. Katsuki pulled out his personal laptop and plugged it into the HDMI cable for the projector, his screensaver instantly appeared. 

Mr. Katsuki was dressed to the nines in a suit that was tailored to perfection. His jet-black hair had been slicked back and was missing his glasses (which made Julio realize what beautiful eyes their teacher had.) Mr. Katsuki was staring up adoringly at Sergeant Nikiforov, with their arms linked and Mr. Katsuki’s arm gently touching Sergeant Nikiforov’s shoulder. Sergeant Nikiforov was dressed in that fancy Marines get up with the fancy coat and fancy white belt and fancy blue pants with the fancy medallions. The way they stared at each other made the entire class erupted into a giant ‘aww’ and made Mr. Katsuki flush into a deep red color and fall off his usually cool demeanor. 

“So, the reason why I called you here today,” Sergeant Nikiforov began, “is because I need your help. And I figured that because my Yuuri talks about you two a lot to me, that you could help me with my task at hand.”

“Wait, Mr. Katsuki talks about us?” Samantha said, tugging and twirling a strand of her thick curly hair between her fingers. “What does he say?”

There was a twinkle in the sergeant’s blue eyes, “Well, I know Yuuri says that he doesn’t have favorites, and it’s only two months into the school year, but let’s say he’s already taken a _strong_ liking to the two of you.”

“So we’re his favorites…” Julio hummed and rubbed his chin.

“Julio,” Samantha said exasperatedly.

“Back to the topic?” Mr. Perez offered, looking between the two students and the sergeant on the screen. Sergeant Nikiforov laughed, tipping his head back.

“Right, right, of course, Yuuri” he sighed a bit wistfully. “Well, I’m not sure if Yuuri has mentioned this to you because he isn’t usually good about talking about his personal life if you don’t ask, but I’m supposed to come home a week after Christmas Day. Except that,” Sergeant Nikiforov smirked a bit, “I lied. I’m coming home three days before his birthday.” 

“Oh!” Samantha exclaimed, touching a hand to her chest. “Does that mean you want our help with your homecoming?”

“Bingo!” Sergeant Nikiforov chirped, holding up a finger. “And who else to help than those who ah...Yuuri has a strong liking for,” Victor teased. 

“What would we need to do?” Julio asked, feeling the giddiness rise in him. He would admit, he spent a lot of time watching those Military homecoming videos at 2 am when the power of YouTube had miraculously dragged him there from Green Day music videos. He was always a sucker for those videos, always crying to those videos and sometimes wondered if he would ever be the one being filmed in those videos. Then he hoped he never would because to be separated from his loved ones would be absolute hell for him.

“Well…” Sergeant Nikiforov smiled, tapping his lips in thought.

__________

“Mr. Katsukiiiiiiiii~” Julio chirped, skipping into the classroom with Samantha hot on his heels. The Filipino boy held his brown lunchbox in his hands, rocking on his heels when he bounced to a stop. “Samantha and I came to eat lunch with you!”

Their teacher looked up from the notebook he was writing in on his desk, adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose and smiled. “Really? That’s nice of you two. What’s the occasion?” 

“Oh, nothing, just ‘cause we love hanging out with our favorite teacher, right Sammy?” Julio turned at looked his best friend. She gave him a deadpanned look. 

“You’re really milking this,” Samantha whispered to him. Yuuri looked at his students and shook his head. “Apart from Julio’s wild insistence, we do genuinely want to get to...perhaps know you better. You’re a really interesting person.” 

Yuuri looked genuinely touched by Samantha’s comments. He nodded thankfully and pulled to chairs up to his desk. “If it’s alright with you, another student is joining me today. He’s a bit grumpy but his heart is in the right place.” Mr. Katsuki assured them, and motioned to the chairs, “Sit, sit...uh, I can play music for you two if you want?” Mr. Katsuki asked. Samantha nodded enthusiastically. Between the two of them, Samantha was the most musically inclined. She was apart of the school’s wind ensemble. 

“Green Day, if we’re talking music,” Julio insisted. Mr. Katsuki looked over at him with a curious, wistful smile, mirroring the one Sergent Nikiforov had worn when he brought up Mr. Katsuki. It was plain to see how in love the two were, even if Julio had never seen them together.

“Green Day?” Mr. Katsuki echoed. “That’s my fiance’s and my favorite band.”

Julio and Samantha shared a look. Julio sat forward, a little more interested now. “They’re old school, Mr. Katsuki. How old are you two?”

Mr. Katsuki gave him a hard look. “Don’t you know it’s rude to ask someone their age?”

Julio squeaked and ducked his head, face growing red with embarrassment. Shit. He had never seen Mr. Katsuki angry before so this was new and this was mortifying for Julio and he wanted to apologize but his throat felt try and all of a sudden holyshitwhatdoeshedoholyshitholyshit-

“I’m teasing,” Mr. Katsuki chuckled. When he realized how pale Julio had gotten, his brown eyes wide. “I-I, Julio _breathe_...” Yuuri insisted. 

Julio looked at him. “Are you sure you’re not a drama teacher?”

“That was really good acting, Mr. Katsuki. I thought Julio was gonna asphyxiate,” Samantha laughed.

“Back to your question,” Mr. Katsuki laughed as Samantha began to take a bite out of her pizza slice and Julio unwrapped his sandwich. “I’m 25, and my fiance is 26.” Mr. Katsuki had turned to his desktop and opened up YouTube, typing in Green Day to the search bar and selecting the first playlist to shuffle. He turned back to his students.

“So how’d you two meet?” Samantha asked. “I mean, you don’t have to tell us if you feel awkward talking about it but it’s nice because I mean all we know is that he’s a Marine from that time we saw your computer background but it would be cool to know more and-” She rambled on and Yuuri help up his hand with a soft smile. Samantha blushed and closed her mouth. 

“We were childhood friends. He lived up the street from my family. Rather, his great-grandparents did. He moved with them when he was…” Yuuri stopped and pursed his lips. “Two? Three? His mother was pregnant with him at a young age, and her parents kicked her out. He was actually born in Saint Petersburg, Russia.”

Julio gasped softly, “Lenin.”

Samantha slapped Julio upside the head, making Yuuri wince and laugh, shaking his head. “No, no, no. Anyway, I moved here from Japan when I was 6, so when we met, Vitya was 7.”

“Vitya?” Samantha questioned and tilted her head. Despite her hesitant nature, the teen was very, very curious. 

“My fiance’s nickname. It’s a diminutive, very common in Russia,” Mr. Katsuki explained. “The other student who will be joining me, his name is Yuri. But his diminutive is Yura.” 

“Very Russian sounding,” Julio nodded sagely in agreement.

“Very Russian indeed,” Yuuri stopped, staring at the table before a foreign language rolled off his tongue almost flawlessly. Samantha and Julio both perked up at it. 

“What language was that? It wasn’t Japanese, my dad speaks Japanese and taught it to my mom and me so I know some but that wasn’t it,” Samantha’s eyes gleamed.

“Russian,” Mr. Katsuki laughed. “I...nevermind,” He shook his head. He looked up when a knock came at the door of the classroom. “Come in,” Mr. Katsuki announced. 

A teen opened the door and Julio instantly recognized him as Yuri Plisetsky, a senior at their school. He was short (but an infuriating inch taller than Julio) despite having a ‘growth spurt’ of sorts during his junior year. He was infamous on campus for being ridiculously smart, yet snappy at any teacher who annoyed him. Word had it that he had actually mellowed out much after joining the track team, after Mr. Katsuki’s insistence. In his left hand, Yuri held a plastic bag, and in his right, he was holding a phone with a tiger-printed case up to his face. It took Julio a solid minute to comprehend that Yuri was video calling someone and not taking a selfie.

“Oi, Katsudon, I’m here,” Yuri announced his arrival and strode into the room as if he owned it. He made a face at Julio and Samantha but plopped down in a cushioned chair usually reserved for TAs. “And I brought your food too. I took long ‘cause I had to heat it up in the teacher’s lounge.”

“You’re allowed to go in there?” Julio asked.

“With permission,” Yuri shrugged. “Who the hell are you two?” 

(“Be nice,” Mr. Katsuki’s reprimand went ignored.) 

“Julio Antonio Vargas,” he chirped, “And this is my best friend, Samantha Tanaka.” He motioned to the shy girl, who waved. “We’re both sophomores in Mr. Katsuki’s AP World class,” Julio explained. A look of surprise briefly flashed across Yuri Plisetsky’s features, but it was instantly replaced by the same, bored expression moments later. 

Yuri was about to speak when a whine came from the phone he held in his hand. “Yuuuuura! You’re not letting me see my Yuuri!” The all-too-familiar voice cried out. Julio’s brows shot up as the teen growled and Mr. Katsuki’s eyes started to sparkle. 

“Are you talking to Vitya?” He shot out from his chair and was instantly behind Yuri—how did he walk so fast? — “Vitya!” Mr. Katsuki cried with joy and took the phone from Yuri, who relinquished it instantly and began to unpack Tupperware from the plastic bag. 

“I take it you’re used to this?” Samantha asked curiously, taking a bite now out of the pizza crust and wiping her mouth with a napkin. Mr. Katsuki babbled away with Sergeant Nikiforov, that’s who Yuri had been talking to, Julio was sure. 

“Only every fucking time I’m around them, but,” Yuri shrugged and took a bite of a weird looking thing— it looked like a crispy golden donut and was steaming, the smell was even more mouthwatering— and wordlessly handed one to Mr. Katsuki who took one. Taking a bite of it, Mr. Katsuki’s shoulders slumped and his lips twisted into a blissful smile. Sergeant Nikiforov laughed through the screen. 

“Do you have other students over? I can hear Yura talking to other people,” Sergeant Nikiforov asked. 

Mr. Katsuki gasped and whirled around to face his students. “God, I’m- I’m sorry!” He began to fret. “I just...my fiance and...I swear I didn’t mean to ignore you two! Especially since you came to eat lunch with me and- and- it’s just...Yura he-”

“Are you blaming me, Katsudon?” Yuri raised his eyebrow, munching thoughtfully on his crispy donut thing. Julio was mildly amused. Whoever the glasses-wearing man sitting in front of him right now was, it wasn’t their calm, cool and collected teacher Mr. Katsuki, who could hand the class joker’s ass right back to him. He was a flustered mess.

“No,” Mr. Katsuki touched a hand to his cheek. “Anyway, would you two like a Katsudon pirozhki? It’s a combination of Yura and my favorite foods,” he picked up the Tupperware and held it out to his students, who each took one. They both murmured a quick ‘thank you’. When Julio bit into his, flavor instantly exploded into his mouth. It was crispy and warm, and the ingredients themselves were interesting. Egg? That was definitely rice and...pork?

“This is amazing,” Julio moaned, taking another bite of his katsu-whatever Mr. Katsuki had called it.

“I’m glad you liked it,” Mr. Katsuki said. He then moved so both Julio and Samantha could see Sergeant Nikiforov on the screen. This time, the Marine Sergeant was laying on stomach, with his hair down and wearing black crew-neck t-shirt with the Marines logo on it. The only light source illuminating the room was Sergeant Nikiforov’s phone, casting a blue-ish glow over his visage. “This is my fiance,” Mr. Katsuki said, a fond look in his eyes as he stared at Sergeant Nikiforov through the tiny screen, “Victor Nikiforov. Yura here,” Mr. Katsuki motioned to the teen, sitting in the TA chair and eating his katsu-whatever, “is Victor’s cousin.” 

“Yuri Plisetsky,” Samantha acknowledged, “I’ve seen a fair share of you.”

“You’re that girl who works the front office desk during sixth period?” Yuri tilted his head towards her. “Next time you should bounce me to the front of the principal’s line.”

“You visit the principal often?” Sergeant Nikiforov questioned. He stared at his cousin through the screen, eyes a mix of confusion and worry. The closer one looked at the Marine sergeant, they could perhaps make out his eye bags. Did Marines sleep often? Or did he just have natural eyebags?

“Not as often as before,” Yura shrugged. “Track,” He unconsciously licked his lips and flickered his emerald eyes over to Mr. Katsuki, who watched him with a knowing smile. “Track won’t let me compete if I get into serious trouble.”

“Ah,” Sergeant Nikiforov said. He then turned his attention on the two sophomores in front of him, “And you two? Do you two have any extracurriculars?” Julio was surprised at how generally interested the older man sounded in his question.

“I’m in the school’s wind ensemble for french horn, and Julio,” Samantha tilted her head over to her best friend, “well, he’s kinda lame and only works at McDonald’s, but he’s killer at karaoke.”

“Karaoke?” Mr. Katsuki said with amusement flickering in his eyes. Julio blushed and ducked his head. He sent Samantha glaring-daggers look before nodding shyly to his teacher.

“I’m not that good but,” He shrugged. “It’s that Filipino blood in me. All my tiyas bust out the karaoke machines at the parties, and we just go from there. Although my family doesn’t appreciate Green Day,” He laughed. “They love ABBA though.”

“Green Day?” Sergeant Nikiforov grinned. Julio realized that his smile reminded him of a heart. It was endearing. “Yuuri and I love Green Day.”

“He told us,” Samantha said. “What’s your favorite song?”

“‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’,” Sergeant Nikiforov said without hesitation. Mr. Katsuki and Sergeant Nikiforov held their gazes for a wild, and a sudden sadness filled the room. A knowing sadness. Not overwhelmingly sad. A sadness like a dull pain. It hung heavy in the air.

“Why?” Samantha asked, head tilted. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

“My Yuuri can choose to answer that,” Victor hummed. All eyes on the room fell onto the Japanese man, and his grip on Yuri’s phone tightened. He swallowed thickly and nodded. 

“It’s quite the story,” Mr. Katsuki murmured.

____

It was a late fall afternoon and Yuuri sat next to Victor on the couch of their newly bought home. Their knees touched and their interlocked hands rested in Victor’s lap. At 22, Yuuri was a recently certified teacher, and at 23, Victor had been moving up ranks at his car dealership job. Yuuri’s heart pounded when Victor told him that he needed to tell him something, but his boyfriend reassured him it was nothing bad. Yuuri’s mind began to race with all the possibilities. Their house was nice and cozy, and their mortgage wasn’t too outrageous. Yuuri’s job paid well, and he could start getting pay raises when he got his tenure in two years. While their life right now was a bit tight, it would get better. Life would slowly improve and he was sure of it.

“What is it, Vityenka?” Yuuri asked softly. He squeezed Victor’s hands and leaned it. “You know you can tell me anything.”

Victor stared at Yuuri for a long time. He studied his face as if trying to burn a mental image of his boyfriend into his mind; he was trying to remember the contours of his face, the shape of his eyes and the color of his lips. His button nose and the arch of his eyebrow. Victor was staring at Yuuri intently and anxiety began to balloon in his chest. What? What was it? What had Victor so on edge that he looked at Yuuri as if all the stars had fallen from the heavens and the remaining ones flickered in Yuuri’s eyes?

Victor took a deep breath. “I enlisted in the Marines.” 

The balloon in his chest popped, and the heavy pieces of lead began to sink into his stomach. Yuuri stared at his boyfriend, trying to process the words that just came out of his mouth. When his vision became spotty, Yuuri squeezed his eyes shut and held onto Victor’s hands for dear life. Thoughts began to race in his mind too fast for Yuuri to sort them. Victor was enlisting. Victor was going to the Marines. Victor going to the Marines means that he would be perhaps going into active zones and Victor going into those zones could mean that...no. No. No. No. Yuuri couldn’t think of that. He wouldn’t and shouldn’t think of that. Because Victor was smart and cunning. Victor knew what he was doing and he should have more faith in Victor and god he needed to have this faith but he couldn’t breathe now, he couldn’t breathe and the world around him was caving because Victor could…

“Sunshine?” Victor asked, reaching up a hand to caress Yuuri’s cheek. Yuuri jerked away violently from him and he swallowed a sob that bubbled up from his throat. 

“Why?” Yuuri whimpered softly. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at Victor. The silver-haired man looked like he had just been punched in the stomach. His hand fell to his side, shock apparent in his eyes. Yuuri wasn’t sure if it was from his avoidance of Victor’s touch or from his question.

“Why what?” Victor asked, “Why did I enlist in the Marines?”

“Yes,” Yuuri said. He tried to keep his voice steady. “You said you were working to save up for college. You said that you would keep working and once I had a job we both could help to pay for your school because it’s what you did for me,” Yuuri’s voice was more frantic now, and tears stung in the corner of his eyes, “So why? Why did you do this? Victor, you didn’t even ask me, you’ve never even expressed interest in the Armed Forces before so why now, Victor you have to tell me why now, why? We’re only starting our life together, Victor what are you thinking? What were you thinking?! Were you even thinking of me? Of us? Oh my god, Victor, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” Yuuri began to sob, tearing his hands from Victor’s to cover his face. A sob raced up his throat and he couldn’t hold it back. Soon enough, his entire body was wracked with sobs as he went from the couch to their floor, tugging on his hair while keeping his eyes covered by his palms.

“Yuuri listen to me, I did this for us Yuuri,” Victor said joining him on the floor and taking his shoulders. “Yuuri, look at me. Look at me. I did it because if I do 5 years of service, I get to apply for expedited citizenship. I have my green card and I can get my citizenship as soon as possible, Yuuri _look at me_ ,” Victor was exasperated. He moved his grip from Yuuri’s shoulder’s to his wrists as Yuuri’s cries only intensified, fighting Victor’s hands on his wrists. “Yuuri I get my citizenship _and_ I get my GI Bill and if I’m a citizen, it’ll be so much easier on us, _Yuuri_ ,” Victor’s had begun to shout, finally prying Yuuri’s hands from his face. 

Yuuri’s tears fell freely down his cheeks now. “You could have married me!” Yuuri screamed at him. “We could have been married and you could have had your citizenship through that instead of enlisting!” 

“Don’t you think I thought of that?!” Victor shouted back. Tears now made their way down his face. “Don’t you think I exhausted every possible situation before coming to this, Yuuri?! Do you think I want to be apart from you, Yuuri? Oh my god, you of all people! Why don’t you understand?!” Victor swallowed his emotions and tried to control his anger. “I don’t want our marriage to be for anything other than love, Yuuri. I don’t want to marry you for citizenship. I only want to marry you because I fucking love you!” Victor had to hold Yuuri’s hands back from shoving him away. 

Yuuri sobbed and lowered his head. His glasses clattered to the floor, and he kept weeping. “Oh my god, Victor, oh my god,” He cried. “You can _die_ if they send you to an active zone,” Yuuri wailed. “Victor, there are so many other options and I don’t care, we could have waited longer, I could have worked harder, Victor.”

Victor lowered Yuuri’s hands and brought him into his lap, holding him close. Yuuri instantly melted against him, sobbing into Victor’s shoulder. Victor rocked them back and forth as Yuuri shook in his arms. He grabbed a fistful of Victor’s jacket and murmured incoherently to himself. “Victor, why? How? What is your plan?” Yuuri finally raised his head to look at him. Their faces were inches apart and they made eye contact. The hurt was evident in both of their eyes. Neither of them had stopped crying.

“I’m going to work my way up the ranks. I’m going to be a POG. Not a Grunt. That means I won’t be on the battlefield if it can be avoided. I’m working in communications,” Yuuri relaxed in Victor’s arm but still kept his iron-grip on his boyfriend. “If I work 5 years, I become eligible for expedited naturalization. After that, I retire. I’m still eligible for two GI Bills,” Victor explained as calmly as he could. “I didn’t want you to carry most of the weight of our future, please, _please_ , support me through this.”

“I love you,” Yuuri sniffled and turned his head so he was facing Victor. “If this is what...what you want and you really want this, _god_ Victor, this is terrifying for me. This really is. But if its what you want, I’ll support you on one condition.” 

“One condition?” Victor echoed and looked down at Yuuri. Yuuri lifted his head and looked at Victor seriously. 

“I don’t have a ring so I can’t do this right, I want you to be my husband. I’m proposing right here and right now. We can worry about the ring later but Victor, if you’re leaving for the Marines, you’re not leaving as my boyfriend, you’re leaving as my fiance. So you know that no matter where they send you, you can come back home to me and I’m going to take you with open arms. And when you come back, we’re going to get married.” Yuuri held Victor’s gaze the entire time. 

“That’s it?” Victor laughed a little breathless. “Oh...Yuuri. Yes. Yes. A thousand times yes. I agree to your condition. I would marry you a thousand times over and I would do it no matter what.” Victor reached up and wiped the streaks tears had left on Yuuri’s cheeks. “I will marry you.”

They held onto each other in comfortable silence and Yuuri thought about what their future would hold now. Life certainly had its way of throwing Yuuri around for a loop, and this was no different. But he loved Victor. He loved Victor no matter what life had in store for them. He couldn’t imagine a life without Victor and realized that ever since he was 6, Victor had been such a large part of his life. And ever since they began dating Yuuri’s freshman year of high school, he had become a part of Victor just as Victor had become a part of him. They were one unit. They completed each other. 

“Do you want me to play music?” Victor murmured against Yuuri’s forehead. “I can play anything you want me to.”

“Green Day,” Yuuri requested. 

Victor nodded and shifted to grab his phone with his free hand. He opened up YouTube and played the first Green Day playlist he could find. He set it back down on the coffee table. 

“‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’?” Yuuri asked from his spot against Victor. Victor glanced at his phone, and sure enough, the video read the title of the Green Day song. 

“Yeah. Do you want me to change it?” Victor asked. “I could play something else. ‘American Idiot’ or ‘She’,” He offered.

“No,” Yuuri said, wrapping his legs around Victor’s waist and sighing against him heavily. 

He held Yuuri closer and listened to the lyrics, along with Yuuri’s rhythmic breathing. He held his boyfr- no, his fiance, and thought about their future. He thought about once his service would be done and started wondering how he could surprise Yuuri with his homecoming. How he could take Yuuri to military balls and if in their wedding, if he could dress in his fancy marine clothes. He knew it would be difficult for Yuuri to be here alone, and he knew his anxiety could sometimes get the best of him, but he believed in Yuuri. He believed in the both of them. They would make it out alive. Together.

“Here comes the rain again, falling from the stars,” Victor sang softly. He ran his fingers through Yuuri’s dark tresses. “Drenched in my pain again, becoming who we are.” 

Yuuri leaned up and kissed his lips. Victor kissed him back, slow and hesitant at first, but then it grew into a loving and reassuring kiss. Sweet and safe. They would be okay.

They would be okay.

____

“So the music video is an odd parallel to Mr. Katsuki’s reactions to you joining the Marines. And it became your theme song in a way?” Samantha asked, staring at Mr. Katsuki through the small window of the video call. Their teacher looked embarrassed, to say the least.

“Somewhat,” Sergeant Nikiforov mused. He was about to speak again before the bell rung, signaling the end of lunch. “Ah, damn. Looks like our chat is over. I know my little Yura should get going to class, so he needs his phone. And my Yuuri needs to teach too.”

Samantha glanced over to Yuri Plisetsky, who had taken Mr. Katsuki’s phone, thumbs flying across the screen as he was totally engrossed in a video game. He perked at his name and briefly looked up. “Uh huh,” he said.

Mr. Katsuki looked at the screen. “One more month,” he told Sergeant Nikiforov. “Until we’re together again.” 

“One more month,” Sergeant Nikiforov agreed. “We’ll talk again later, okay? I have the day off tomorrow...er. Today. It’s late here.”

Mr. Katsuki nodded. He glanced at his students, with a small, unsure looked before mumbling something quickly in Japanese. Samantha instantly knew what it was. A warm feeling blossomed in her chest and by the look on the Sergeant’s face, she was sure that it happened to him as well. 

“I love you too,” he said with a fond look in his soft, blue eyes. A blush dusted over his cheeks before he turned the phone to face the students (and hide his blush from Sergeant Nikiforov, Samantha inferred). 

“Say bye to Victor, everyone,” Yuuri implored. His fiance laughed loudly, making the phone speakers crackle. 

“Bye old man,” Yuri said flatly, being courteous enough to glance up and offer the Marine a fraction of his attention.

“Bye...er...Mr. Nikiforov-Katsuki? Katsuki-Nikiforov?” Julio said voice raised in question, the way it always did when he was confused.

“Just Victor is fine,” Sergeant Nikiforov said. He looked at the two students, his expression light but his words heavy with implication, “I hope to hear from you two again?”

“Yes, yes!” Samantha affirmed. Her hands were clasped tightly after she slung her backpack over her back and nodded. “That would be lovely.”

“Great. Everyone have a good day. Especially you, my sunshine,” Sergeant- no. Victor hummed towards Mr. Katsuki.

“Go to bed, you silly Russian man,” Mr. Katsuki scolded. He turned the phone back to himself, sending Victor one last loving look. “Sweet dreams, my Vitya,” He said before he waved goodbye and hung up.

“Hurry up, Katsudon, you’re gonna make me late to government, and Mr. Echelle isn’t the nicest person around,” Yuri complained. Mr. Katsuki huffed and handed his phone back to the complaining teen. “I’ll write you a note.” He then turned to his two students. “What classes do you two have next? I’ll write you notes,” he offered. “I’m sorry our lunch Rendez-Vous also got...interrupted. Vitya has this awful talent of stealing my attention.”

“No, no, it’s okay,” Samantha waved her hands frantically. “It was...nice. Nice talking to your fiance. He’s nice. You’re nice. Nice.” Samantha nodded.

Mr. Katsuki smiled and touched a hand over his heart. “Thank you.” Only then did Samantha notice the glint of his engagement ring.

“I have honor’s English with Mr. Guerrero next. Samantha has chem with Mrs. Wang,” Julio supplied. Mr. Katsuki walked over to his desk and opened a drawer. He pulled out a pad of sticky notes and began to scribble away notes.

Samantha turned to look at Yuri, who regarded both she and Julio with a mirth of emotions in his sharp eyes. He blew a bubble of gum before popping it loudly and turning to look at his phone. “You killed my battery,” He commented to the air.

“Do you want my charger?” Mr. Katsuki offered, and Yuri Plisetsky rolled his eyes. Samantha thought it was odd. Some of her upperclassmen friends always talked about how much Yuri had mellowed out, but still had some edge to him (such as with the government and econ teachers), but with Mr. Katsuki, Yuri’s edge seemed...force. As if it was a habit, or their roles together. Samantha would look into it later. (Curse her and her socio-psychologist mindset.)

“No, I have my portable,” Yuri huffed. Mr. Katsuki hummed in response and finished writing the notes, handing them to each respective person. Samantha glanced down at it, trying to decipher the letters. She groaned in frustration when she couldn’t decipher it as fast as she wanted to. When her mind finally processed the words, Samantha noticed something really interesting. Mr. Katsuki signed his name both in English and in Japanese. Reading Japanese, or in general, wasn’t her strongest suit, but she could tell that there was something off about the way Mr. Katsuki wrote his last name in Japanese. 

“See you all later?” Mr. Katsuki asked. “I have a class next and you all shouldn’t miss too much of your next class,” he insisted as he walked them all to the door. When he opened it, all the students began to file it. Samantha remembered Mr. Katsuki’s rule about no one coming in the class if the door was closed. She wondered now if it had to do with his calls with Sergea- with Victor.

“Have a good day, Mr. Katsuki!” Julio chriped. Samantha echoed behind him. 

“You two, too,” their history teacher said. He turned to Yuri and gave him a knowing look. Yuri only rolled his eyes and Mr. Katsuki laughed before turning and walking back into his classroom.

“Well,” Julio mused. “That was interesting.”

“You two,” Yuri gained their attention. He jerked his head and motioned for them to follow him. Samantha and Julio shared a look and Samantha glanced down at her note. Skipping a bit of chemistry wouldn’t kill her…

“But the note,” Samantha said at the same time, waving the sticky note up in the air. Something in the back of Samantha’s head vaguely wondered how compatible she and Julio were.

“Something that most people don’t know is that,” Yuri began, snatching Samantha’s note from her unsuspecting hands, “is that Mr. Katsuki writes his notes in erasable pen.” He pulled a pencil from the same pocket his sharpie came from and erased the time, producing a pen next and changing the time on the note. “There, now we have half an hour.”

“Do mine too,” Julio handed Yuri his sticky note. Yuri changed the time and handed it back to Julio, who stared at it like it was a Golden Ticket.

“Come on, we’ll get in trouble if we linger in the halls. We can hide out in the History Building teacher’s lounge,” Yuri said, leading back towards the way they had came from, passed Mr. Katsuki’s classroom and to the door at the very end of the hall, where Samantha always saw teachers come in and out of. Looking around, Yuri Plisetsky punched in a code into the keypad and when it beeped in approval, he opened the door, and motioned the two in before closing the door behind himself. They walked to a second door and Yuri slowly opened it, poking his head inside. He then opened the door all the way and guided the students into the room. 

It smelled weird. That was the first thing Samantha noticed. It smelled the way old books would. A small set of staircases lead down to the room. The couches reminded Samantha of the furniture at her Gramma Joyce’s house. The paint of the coffee table in front of the couches were peeling and several random magazines and book littered the table. Pushed up against the walls, two Xerox printers looked like they hadn’t been used in ages. On the wall opposite of them, a coffee pot, a globe, and a microwave sat atop a counter. A fridge stood beside the counter. Random world maps, and portraits of political figures littered the walls. On Thomas Jefferson’s portrait, someone had scribbled devil horns and the words “evil man” onto it. Samantha laughed. The whole room was history-teacher-esque.

“No one uses this lounge much,” Yuri explained as he sat on the couch, propping his feet up on the coffee table. Sometimes a random staff member will be in here napping on the couch but, normally, it’s just Mr. Katsuki who uses it. He likes unwinding here during his prep period.”

“Ah,” Samantha acknowledged, sitting on the couch next to the one Yuri sat on with Julio. She kept looking around, soaking in the room. “It’s very…”

“Antiquated,” Julio said. He sat next to Samantha and looked much more relaxed than she did (though not as entirely comfortable as Yuri.) “Old school. I kinda like it.” 

“Enough with the interior design,” Yuri said. “Katsudon really hasn’t told you anything about him and Victor?” He asked. Samantha shook her head.

“We only knew he was in the Marines cause we saw a picture of him and Mr. Katsuki together on his laptop, right Samantha?” Julio asked. Samantha nodded. 

“Then he told us before you came that his fiance was a born in Russia, and like,” Samantha pursed her lips, “and that they were childhood friends. But that’s about it. He never told us about not seeing his fiance in five years.”

Yuri sighed and shook his head. A storm brewed in his green eyes, as he stared at the scrapes and scratches on his Converse shoe. Samantha watched him intently, trying to understand the expressions that played across his face. Samantha noted the way his hand fidgeted with the zipper of his jacket and the impatient bouncing of his leg that shook the entire coffee table.

“Alright,” Yuri finally announced. “Maybe it’s not my place to tell you, but it definitely is a story I get to tell,” He tucked a strand of his blonde hair behind his ear, “because I witnessed it. Sorta? I eavesdropped okay,” Yuri huffed. “Anyway, what happened was...something.”

____

Yuri sighed as he kicked an empty Snapple can across the walkway. He watched as it flew across the yellow line that dictated the out of bounds areas during lunch time. Sophomore was starting off like a dumpster, except that the dumpster was on fire and sitting in the middle of a junkyard and the junkyard on fire and everything was burning. Yep. That seemed like an accurate representation of sophomore year. Burning trash.

First of all, sophomore year classes were much more difficult than freshman year classes, even if he took all honors classes in freshman year. Now, sophomore year was AP classes, and Yuri didn’t really try last year so the fact that he had to try this year really _sucked_. And then he couldn’t get away with his ‘I’m a freshman so I am naive, thus excusable’ excuse, because he was no longer a freshman. And it sucked because sometimes, he just didn’t feel like doing his geometry homework. Because who in fucks sakes actually likes geometry?

Grumbling, he walked down the hall of the history building towards Katsudon’s classroom. Victor’s fiance had been last year’s newest hire in their high school, and all the students (especially the girls) were abso-fucking-lutely smitten with Katsudon, which, in Yuri’s humble opinion, was fucking ridiculous. What sucked even more was that Katsudon was his AP World History teacher, because apparently, a fucking Master’s degree in history from a top university qualifies you for that, or whatever. 

He opened the door and walked into Katsudon’s classroom. In one hand, he held a plastic bag full of Katsudon pirozhkis his _Dedushka_ Kolya made for him and Katsudon. The history teacher was seated at his desk with his earphones in, talking on the phone. With Victor most likely. Part of Yuri thought it was weird that Katsudon had known him from a young age. Like, since birth almost, and now he was his teacher and engaged to his cousin. Odd shit.

“I know, Victor,” Katsudon murmured, “But I can’t leave them. Especially during finals week.” Katsudon paused, staring at the screen. “I know...but...I don’t have tenure yet. I can’t get away with leaving during finals week. It’ll look bad. Plus, this is the halfway benchmark before their AP test. I need to be here for them.” Katsudon’s voice sounded smaller, more unsure. Yuri didn’t know if he had the right to listen any longer unnoticed, so he cleared his voice. 

Katsudon looked up, startled. When he realized who it was, his shoulders relaxed. “Oh, Yura,” He took off his glasses and rubbed his face tiredly. Yuri watched him before plopping down on top of a table. Katsudon usually wasn’t one to try and push his struggles on other people. He let them simmer dangerously until they all came boiling over. In fact, the only person he could really talk to was Victor, but Victor had been deployed in Japan for the last six months. He had come home two weeks ago, but Yura knew they both had been too busy to see each other since Victor had come home three weeks ago. Not only was Victor’s field of work very rare in the Marines, the fact that Victor was trilingual, having picked up Japanese from Yuuri and his family and then refining it through high school classes, had made him very valuable. The Marine Corps was already trying to ship him off onto a tour. 

“Are you talking to Victor?” Yuri asked. He shuffled his feet awkwardly and then tried to tell Katsudon he was sorry for interrupting him. “That’s fucking stupid.”

Katsudon winced and took off his earphones. “Hold on, Victor,” he stopped and unplugged his headphones from the jack. He turned the phone so Yuri could see Victor. The teen could see that his older cousin was obviously in distress. So he did the best he couldn’t comfort him. “The fuck is wrong with you? You look like hell.” 

“Yura,” Victor sounded vulnerable, and Yuri fucking hated it, “Please tell Yuuri to take the week off to come see me before I leave.” 

Yuri felt a lump build in his throat. He hated seeing his cousin so desperate. Because his cousin was the superhuman who did a complete 180 with his grades sophomore year when he realized that he wanted to go to college to have a better life with his disgusting boyfriend (now fiance) and his cousin was the one wrote letters to his papa who was stuck in Saint Petersburg for six years after Victor first left, waiting to get a green card. And his cousin was the one who changed his parent's mind about homosexuality when he first came out, after months of fighting with them and his cousin was supposed to be strong so why _why_ the _fuck_ was he being so weak now?

“I don’t involve myself in lovers quarrels,” Yuri said, staring at his shoes. He winced when his cousin yelled ‘Yuri Vladimirovich Plisetsky’ and grit his teeth because, no, no, no, even him yelling his full name sounded so fucking vulnerable and oh, fuck. No. ‘Please don’t say anything stupid, Yuri,’ he begged himself, ‘You know you say stupid things when you’re mad’, “Well fuck, old man!” Yuri shouted at the top of his lungs, “The fucking world doesn’t revolve around you! Why don’t you realize that your fucking fiance has a job an a fucking responsibility! He can’t run off for dumb shit! He has 180 kids he makes sure pass his class! See past your own fucking nose!” 

Victor was stunned in silence. Yuuri himself just stared at Yuri and fuck he felt a pit open up in his stomach because fuck, he really didn’t mean that, but he just freaked out, he didn’t know what else to say, and fuck, fuck, fuck. He hated himself a lot right now. “I’ll talk to you when I get off work,” Katsudon said softly to the camera, “I love you.” Without waiting for a response, he hung up and instantly dropped his face into his hands, and fuck, Yuri knew he was crying. It was pathetic ( _no, it wasn’t_ ) his little sobs and whimpers. It made Yuri’s blood boil. 

“I,” Katsudon cried, “am the worst fiance ever,” he sobbed. “I can’t call off, and he’s going to be gone for 5 years, and I rationally know that-” Katsudon hiccupped and let his phone fall from his hands and clatter onto the floor, “I-I know that it’s not my fault. It’s the districts because of their sick hours policy and...and, that...I just….god, I’m going to _miss_ him, Yura.” 

Yuri walked over to Katsudon and rubbed his back comfortingly. He jerked away violently from Yura’s touch, and Shit. He was really bad at this. Like. Really bad at this. “Who cares? It’s gonna make your relationship stronger or whatever, right? Plus it’ll...like...I dunno, let you both grow as people.” 

“It’s not that simple, Yura, you know that,” Katsudon said, his tears coming in a steady flow. 

“You two have been madly in love for,” Yuri shrugged helplessly, “10 years? 11? Since your freshman year. You went through high school together, he helped you through college and you two are now walking hand-in-hand through your tenure as a teacher? It’s gonna be okay,” 

“God, I hope you’re right,” Yuuri mumbled under his breath, as he wiped away more tears.

____

Samantha sat back, losing color from her face. Okay. So. giant situation. Giant situation and it wasn’t a test Samantha could retake if she couldn’t make sense of all the letters in time, no, no, no, this was a thing Samantha had one shot at. And if she fucked it up then oh sweet mother of god Mr. Katsuki would hate her, hate her, hate her, hate her.

“Okay so we need to know all the things Mr. Katsuki likes,” Julio said, pulling Samantha out of her thoughts. She looked over at her best friend, who had that glint in his chocolate eyes when Samantha just _knew_ that all the cogs in his mind were turning. Suddenly, she didn’t feel as pressured as before. Julio and she could make it work. Plus, they had Yuri and Ser- Victor on their side too. Okay. So maybe. Maybe she could do this. Okay.

“He likes the color blue, poodles, cheesy rom-com movies and animes, figure skating, and my cousin,” Yuri said. He stared at the wall ahead of him. “And history. But that’s a given.” 

“Oh!” Samantha said, slamming her hand on the couch cushion. “The student-led lesson of the month!” Samantha cried out, smiling. “That’ll work!”

“What?” Yuri asked, furrowing his brows. 

“The student-led lesson of the month is a thing Mr. Katsuki created to help the two students who have lowest test scores of the month makeup points, and also, like, try to get them more involved in history by letting them research topics in history of their choice. Like,” Julio liked his lips, “This girl named Mei did cosmetics in early modern East Asia, and our friend Nate once did the introduction of drugs into China by the British and how that parallels the ‘war on drugs’ today,” Julio explained.

“I seriously thought Mr. Katsuki was going to pass out at that one,” Samantha chuckled. “He was so pale and kept nervously looking at the door.”

“Hey, but it is an important narrative that needs to happen,” Julio said, crossing his arms. “Anyway, we’re off-track. But if we could do something like military ranks throughout history, or the history of warfare, and then say we’re bringing in an expert, and it be Victor or something.” 

“Or,” Samantha said, “We could do the history or romance and like, cultural traditions according to marriages or what not,” Samantha pondered. “We’ll figure it out. We just need to bomb...when is Mr. Katsuki’s birthday again?”

“November 29th,” Yuri supplied, staring intently at the two.

“Okay, we just need to bomb the November test to be able to do the student-led lesson that month,” Samantha said, slamming her fist against her palm. She stopped and her eyes widened, “Oh my god, he’ll put the grades in school loop. Julio!” Samantha whipped around to look at her best friend with frantic, chocolate colored eyes. “Julio! He’s going to put the grades in school loop and my parents check my school loop account every Friday and _ohmygod_.”

“Relax,” Julio cooed, rubbing her arm. He knew that Samantha’s parents were strict on her because dyslexia, so they pushed her to be the best she could be. Julio did his best to try and console her, and Samantha was grateful to have a friend she could lean on. 

“You can get Victor to call your parents if you want. He’s good with charming people.” Yuri suggested. He run a hand through his hair before tapping away at his phone. Samantha resisted the urge to lean over and read what he was doing. After a second or two, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, and judging by the way Julio aggressively slapped his pocket, his phone vibrated too. Pulling her phone out of her pocket, Samantha saw that a new group  
chat had been created with Julio and two unknown numbers, one of the unknown numbers texting the group chat first

**UNKNOWN NUMBER**  
_Homecoming surprise group chat_

“The number ending in 0301 is mine, and the one ending in 2512 is Victor’s. Now we should really go back to class, but,” Yuri sighed and shook his head. “I’m only going to say this once so listen up and listen up good.” Samantha and Julio shared a look before sitting up intently. Yuri Plisetsky looked between the two, green eyes intense, mixed with another emotion Samantha couldn’t entirely make out.

“Thank you,” Yuri said quietly. “This means a lot to Victor, and it’s going to mean a lot to Yuuri. So it means a lot to me, I guess.” 

“Oh,” Samantha said. “You’re welcome.”

“Besides, this might get us an A for the rest of the year!” Julio pumped a fist in the air. 

Samantha smacked him upside the head, eliciting a yelp from him. “Way to ruin the moment.”

__________

“You did _what_?” Victor asked, staring at Julio with accusing blue eyes through the camera. Julio shrunk away and fidgeted with his flannel.

“Samantha and I covered it up, so it wasn’t that bad!” Julio defended himself, his face suddenly warm. If he was paler, he was sure his face would have been the same color as the _American Idiot_ logo on his t-shirt. 

“You were awful at it and a surprise birthday party was the first thing I could think of,” Samantha deadpanned. The duo were sitting behind Samantha’s desk in the front office, where she worked as an assistant for 2nd period, and Julio had been summoned by the principal’s office for ‘personal matters’ by a slip forged by Samantha. 

“Okay, okay, okay, tell me what happened, step by step,” Victor asked, running a stressed hand through his hair. September had come and gone and October was gone in a flash, so with the beginning weeks of November, Julio could see how the quickly approaching date had begun to take a toll on Sergeant Niki- on Victor. Damn. That stupid title had gotten him in trouble in the first place.

“Well,” Julio sighed and rubbed his neck, “We began phase one of our plan, which was bombing our tests. Which was actually, in fact, harder than you’d imagine. We actually had to figure out the wrong answer. Anyway, once we failed that, Mr. Katsuki announced us as the two lowest scores, and then from there, like, we were announced as November’s student lesson leaders, he asked us for a date and then Samantha said the 29th, and then…” Julio stopped and rubbed the nape the of his neck. “And then I said ‘like your birthday Mr. Katsuki’ and that made him stop and,” 

“Yuuri asked you how you knew when his birthday was because my Yuuri isn’t the type to share much of his personal tidbits without being asked,” Victor shook his head, but was smiling nonetheless. “He’s very affectionate and likes opening up, believe it or not, but,” he laughed, “He also has this weird idea that if he opens up to too many people, they’ll see his weakness.” Victor shook his head, “Off topic, so he asked how you knew his birthday.”

“And then I panicked and said you told me, only I said Sergeant Nikiforov,” Julio said, taking a few calming breaths. Samantha laced their hands and Julio squeezed it tight, grateful. “And he asked how I knew you were a Sergeant.” 

“At that point, Julio was a total stalker, so then I jumped in and started putting my 3rd grade drama class skills to use. I made this whole show about Julio blowing our cover at Mr. Katsuki’s surprise party and what not, then after class, I saved our asses by explaining to Mr. Katsuki that I used my office connections to get in touch with you to find out his birthday, favorite things and whatnot,” Samantha waved her hand in the air. “I told him we got in touch through e-mail and stuff, and Julio added that sometimes we went off on tangents and stuff.”

“Long story short, we have to remold our Student Led lesson to fit birthright celebrations and all that jazz but we also have to plan Mr. Katsuki’s birthday party in two weeks,” Julio finished, squeezing Samantha’s hand.

Victor leaned back in the chair he sat in and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. His eyes lit up suddenly, and a grin spread across his face. “I have a person we can call. Here. Let me ring him and switch this to a conference call. My picture may go out so just hold on,” Victor said before beginning to type away on his laptop.

“Who are you calling?” Samantha asked as Victor’s screen froze. The audio continued, however.

“He’s been a friend to Yuuri and me since middle school. After I left, he’s been a huge lifeline to Yuuri, but he’s also quite the personality of his own. He studied journalism, and I knew he’d make it huge. And he did. He’s- ah! Phichit!”

Victor’s picture unfroze and a third person joined them into the call. Julio’s phone buzzed with the sudden background noise as a very familiar person to Julio and Samantha appeared on the screen. Julio’s eyes widened when he suddenly realized who it was. The obnoxiously printed pineapples on the short-sleeved collared shirt and the backwards cap set atop his charcoal-colored hair was his staple image. Samantha had always fangirled at the fact of seeing another successful Asian in journalism, her dream job. 

“Phichit Chulanont?!” Samantha let out a small shriek. “From Buzzfeed?”

“Oh! Hi! I didn’t know this was a conference call!” Phichit sat forward and began to adjust his cap, staring at himself through the screen. “Victor, you normally don’t call me at these hours your times. Much less in a conference call. Buuuut considering that you’re two weeks out from homecoming, I figured I’d be needed. So what’s up?”

“Phichit, meet Julio Antonio Vargas and Samantha Tanaka. Two of Yuuri’s students,” Victor introduced the two students. “Julio, Samantha, meet Phichit Chulanont!”

“Yeah, we know, we watch all your videos, Phichit!” Samantha squealed excitedly. Julio smacked her arm.

“Oh my god, Samantha, don’t make us seem like crazy fans,” Julio stage-whispered. This drew laughter from both Phichit and VIctor. 

“I’m flattered! Yuuri mentions you two an awful lot you know. Actually, Samantha, right? Some of my co-workers here are doing a video about bi-racial pride, would you be interested in joining?” Phichit asked.

Julio looked to his best friend, who stared at the screen with wide eyes. “O-of course! Uh...we can talk about that later?” She asked, failing at trying to mask her excitement. “We have to focus on Mr. Katsuki’s surprise.”

“Mr. Katsuki,” Phichit wrinkled his nose. “Oh, that’s too formal and makes him sound old. Call him Yuuri.” 

“That’s disrespectful. My mom would have my tongue if she heard me disrespect a teacher,” Julio’s complained. 

“We’re tangeting and they’re going to have to go to their next class soon,” Victor announced. Julio glanced on his image in the camera. Victor was typically carefree and relaxed in their conversations, but Julio noticed the closer it got to his homecoming, the more wound up he seemed. “This needs to be perfect for Yuuri.”

“Relax, Victor! I’ve planned countless birthday parties for Yuuri. Plus this would make a perfect vlog entry.” Phichit laughed. “What’s your email, I need to send you these waivers to pass out to whoever is going to be at Yuuri’s surprise party.”

“My email is SamTana923@gmail.com, and it’ll probably just be our class. We could do a potluck or something?” Samantha asked. 

“That would be best,” Julio agreed. “Phichit, you could be in charge of decorations and stuff?”

“I’ll also meet up with Hiroko and help her make a big batch of Katsudon. And I know a bakery that would make me a cake.” Phichit stroked his chin with the length of his index finger, eyes lighting up. “I have an idea for Victor’s actual appearance, but I would need a big box and a lot of wrapping paper.”

__________

Yuuri was mildly annoyed, to say the least. Julio and Samantha in his second period were planning a not-so-surprise party for him that was supposed to be put on for him today. And Yuuri wasn’t normally one to make such a big deal about his birthday. He liked having a nice night in with a glass of wine and Makkachin on his lap as he watched a Miyazaki movie. This year, however, he had been ran out of his own classroom by his two spunkiest students, and when he tried to go to the History teacher’s lounge, he had been ran out of there too. Eventually, he ended up in the classroom of his fellow history teacher, Ms. Braveheart, occasionally adding small tidbits of information into her lesson. When first period was over, he stood up and walked back to his classroom as fast as he could.

The door was locked. Great. What were these two planning? He watched as his other students filed at the door, shocked to see him but obviously giddy. Many had gift bags in their hands. He sighed and shook his head. He was really grateful that his students were going to such lengths to celebrate his birthday, but it also worried him what Julio and Samantha were planning, seeing as they were willing to do pretty much anything, even purposefully fail a test. (Yes, on purpose. Yuuri knew. They were his star students. How they got anything below an 80 was because they were trying to fail.) After much commotion from within his classroom, Samantha swung the door open. Yuuri was surprised by how well dressed she was. Obviously, they had asked Yuuri to come well-dressed, but he didn’t expect Samantha and Julio to do so as well. Samantha was dressed in a floral printed dress with a white shawl drawn over her shoulders and a simple flower clip in her curly hair. 

“Okay, now we’re ready!” Samantha grinned at him, “I’m probably not the first, but happy birthday Mr. Katsuki!”

Yuuri smiled at her fondly. “Thank you, Samantha.”

Julio popped his head out of the room. From what he could see he was wearing a grey vest over a white collared shirt and a simple purple bowtie. “Mr. Katsuki in last! Everyone who brought presents can put them on the floor by Mr. Katsuki’s desk next to the giant wrapped present. Let’s go!” He chirped as Mr. Katsuki’s 2nd period students began to file into the class. Yuuri, as Julio said, was forced to enter his own classroom last. 

Yuuri was surprised at the decorations. Colorful streamers hung along the border of his room and a donkey-shaped pinata hung from the ceiling. Decorating the rooms were hand-drawn signs that, Yuuri guessed, said ‘Happy Birthday’ in several languages. Helium balloons were tied to chairs at the desks and a long table, the one Yuuri usually reserved for his TAs and guests, was full of food, from a small two-tiered cake to tempura shrimp. Yuuri stared at it in shock before a familiar scent wafted towards him.

“Is that...katsudon?” He asked, looking over at Samantha and Julio incredulously. The latter having been setting up somethings and talking to students, leaving his best friend to nod shyly. 

“I, uh, got this really good recipe from a...friend of a friend,” Samantha said, tugging on the sleeve of her cardigan. Her confident demeanor from earlier had disappeared. “My dad read me the recipe and he and my....friend…” she made a face at the word, as if it sat funnily on her tongue, “helped me with it since it’s such a large serving for a lot of people. My dad also, uh, helped me with that,” she motioned behind her to a clumsily strung together sign of several cutesy squares. It took him a minute to realize that the sign was in Japanese.

**_Happy Birthday, Mr. Katsuki!_ **

“You wrote in Japanese?” Yuuri asked, grinning at the characters. “Samantha...I’m so proud of you. You’ve come a long way,” he bowed his head in thanks to her.

“I couldn’t have done it without such a motivating teacher,” she smiled up at him. Yuuri smiled back at her and suddenly, opened his arms, inviting her into a hug. He had to hold back a chuckle when Samantha’s eyes widened as she looked up at him. He shrugged at her. A little affection never hurt anyone. Yuuri heard her muffle a sniffle as she pressed her cheek against the knitted sweater he wore over his dress shirt. 

“Hey, hey, hey! Samantha, save the waterworks for later!” Julio complained from across the room. Yuuri stepped away from the hug and turned to look at his Filipino student, who was huddled in the corner with Belky, the ASB Sophomore president. He was handing her his phone, talking both to the phone and to Belky before hurrying over to them. “Let’s get this show on the road!”

“Right,” Samantha wiped a tear. She turned and scurried from Yuuri’s view, blocked by the suspiciously person-size box, and reemerged, rolling Yuuri’s swivel chair that had been wrapped in golden paper. He gaped at it as she placed it right in the center of the room and motioned for Yuuri to sit in it. 

“Birthdays are often a huge things, especially in Western Civilization. Take Latin America, for example, where teenage girls are deemed women at the age of 15 and thrown their _Quinceñeras_. Giant celebrations. One of these traditions is the teenage girl sitting in a chair, and her father swapping her flat shoe,” Julio bent over and grabbed one of Yuuri’s legs, lifting it into the air. Yuuri yelped in surprise and grabbed onto the seat of his swivel chair. The entire class rumbled with laughter, “For a heel. This is supposed to symbolize the transition from girl to woman. But seeing as I don’t have a size,” Julio stopped and tilted his head, reading the number on the bottom of Yuuri’s shoe, “nine heel, we’ll have to skip this tradition.”

“One fun one,” Samantha spoke from behind him. Yuuri was always amazed at how confident she was when speaking to crowds, despite her shy and quiet demeanor around those she didn’t know. “Is the Eastern Canadian tradition of ambushing the birthday person with grease to the nose.” The entire class ‘ooo-ed’ as Yuuri packed away from a menacing mini-mason jar Samantha held in her hand.

“What _is_ that?!” Yuuri cried as Samantha dipped her finger into the jar and swiped it across his nose.

“Margarine. Didn’t have any grease at home so,” she laughed and rejoined Julio at the front of the class. Yuuri wiped the margarine from his nose with a tissue his student, Marisela, handed him. He smiled gratefully at her, and she ducked her head, blushing.

“Surprisingly though, is that in many East Asian countries, such as China and Japan, birthdays weren’t a big thing until the 1950s. Each person turned a year older every new year. It emphasized unity rather than individuality.” Samantha said, waving her hands about as she spoke. 

“That’s right,” Yuuri chimed in, feeling his chest swell with pride at his national heritage. 

“The next three we can’t really do,” Julio spoke, “because I don’t think Mr. Katsuki would appreciate flour all over him. In Jamaica, they douse the birthday celebrator in flour,” Julio snickered. 

“And in Germany, men over 30 who are single are expected to sweep city hall, while their friends toss trash onto the floor. The birthday boy...er...man?” Samantha shook her head. “The birthday celebrator has to kiss a woman passing by, to be a real man.”

“That’s canceled,” Julio shook his head. “Down with the patriarchy.”

“And the third one,” said Samantha, “Is an Irish tradition of holding the birthday person upside down and bumping their head against the floor and another for good luck, but I don’t think we’re legally allowed to place a hand on Mr. Katsuki.”

“Plus, the only person who could probably lift him is probably Alex,” Julio said, doing finger guns to his wrestler friend in the corner of the room, who returned the finger guns. 

Yuuri glanced up at the pinata that hung from the ceiling. He really appreciated all that his students were doing for him, but then a sudden thought struck him. The tiny donkey shaped pinata was too close to the projector for Yuuri’s comfort. And if they wanted to follow tradition, they would have to blindfold Yuuri as he hit it.

“I’m not breaking that pinata with it that close to the projector,” Yuuri announced suddenly. The class all looked up towards the accused pinata, and everyone began to laugh.

“Ohhhhh Mr. Katsuki, C'mon, you need a new one anyways! Plus, how are we going to get the candy from the inside of it,” Julio pouted and stomped his foot.

“We can tie it up outside on the tree if anything.” Yuuri huffed and stood, walking towards the pinata. The class suddenly broke into a tension and Julio ran forward, grabbing his arms and sitting him back in his chair.

“Nononononononono we can just open up the pinata and take the candy out that’s fine, that’s fine!” Julio said, turning. “Anyone taking anatomy? Who dissected the pig’s brain?”

Yuuri was shocked at Julio’s behavior. Normally, the Filipino teen was calm and collected, cracking jokes at every turn. But now, he seemed on edge. Yuuri even caught him sneaking nervous glances over to the giant present box that sat next to his desk. Suspicious, Yuuri narrowed his eyes at Julio and Samantha, the former explaining birthday traditions from the Philippines and China. 

“Why don’t we open presents?” Yuuri asked when Julio finished explaining the long noodles from China. 

Samantha and Julio glanced towards each other, then to Belky, who held Julio’s iPhone in her hands still, perfectly positioned to get a view of both Yuuri and his students. A silent message passed between the two best friends as they stared at each other intently. “Alright, okay. Present time. Just so you know, all these presents were completely voluntary. We didn’t ask anyone to bring anything but food,” Samantha said as she gestured to the students around her, who were enjoying food from the potluck. 

They didn’t let Yuuri start with the big present. 

He started off with the smallest presents first. Gift cards to Starbucks, Target and other stores. A few ties, several sweaters, and even a new watch and matching wallet from his two twin students, Cerenia and Helena. Other students bought him coffee mugs, trinkets from some of his favorite animes he mentioned in passing, and others brought him food. Some even gave him the punny merchandise from the educational YouTube show he made his students watch to study. He made sure to thank each student who gifted him something personally, standing to face them and bowing his head respectfully. 

Finally, Yuuri was down the last present. His hands shook as he stared at the box. A hush had fallen over the classroom and many students had taken their phones out to record. The box itself was a simple white color with a black top adorned with a blue bow. It was awfully large and all the gears in Yuuri’s head started to turn. Maybe...just maybe is what he was waiting five years for. What he cried for every night and the reason he wore a golden band around his right ring finger. 

“We just wanted to say, Mr. Katsuki that...this whole day is dedicated to you,” Julio spoke from behind him, commanding the silence of the classroom. Yuuri turned and saw he was reading from a note card with shaking hands. Samantha held his forearm gently. “We couldn’t thank you enough for being our teacher and everything you do for us. From putting in extra work to make sure your students pass the class, to making sure your students are okay in their personal lives. Your dedication to us and our gratitude to you cannot really be translated into words because it’s just that grand. But I just hope our gesture here…” he swallowed thickly and blinked hard. “I hope our gesture here is enough. I speak for the class when I say it, but we love you, Mr. Katsuki. And we mean it from the bottom of our hearts.”

The class abrupted into loud applause and Yuuri hugged Julio. Julio hugged Yuuri back after a minute, trying to mask his sniffles. But they didn’t get past Yuuri. He chuckled and rubbed his student’s back comfortingly. 

“Okay, okay! Enough. Time to open the big one,” Samantha pried her best friend from Yuuri. “Go for it, Mr. Katsuki.”

Yuuri nodded and turned back to his giant box. He stared at it one last time. Yes, Victor had told him there was a month left in his tour, but it didn’t mean Victor couldn’t lie, right? Yuuri stayed up often, watching those homecoming military videos were soldiers surprise their families. Maybe Victor could do that for him. Maybe Victor was hiding inside this box. Feeling giddy, the grabbed the corners of the top of the box and flung it off.

“Surprise!!!!”

Phichit leaped up from inside the box, a GoPro on a hand grip tightly clutched in his left hand. Many of his students squealed (of course they did, he was a famous Buzzfeed vlogger) and Yuuri could only stare at his best friend in shock. He was wearing a floral-patterned button up with his short sleeves cuffed. The backward cap on his dark hair was still there, his staple image since their high school days.

“Phichit, what are you doing here?” Yuuri asked, as his best friend flung his arms around him and Yuuri caught him.

“Celebrating you, of course!” He chirped and climbed out of the box. “Aren’t you glad to see me?” Phichit asked.

“I-I am! Believe me, I am,” Yuuri laughed. He looked at the floor, swallowed thickly and shook his head. “I just, no offense, but I...half-expected Victor to be in the box.” 

“Well that would have been too predictable, wouldn’t it be, Yuuri?” Victor’s voice called out to him from behind.

Yuuri froze completely. His students gasped before a silence washed over the classroom. He had kept his back to the door, his full attention focused on the box. That’s what this had been. A distraction. Of course, it was. But...no. It wasn’t possible. No. Not yet. Because Victor was crazy enough to pull something of this caliber off but was he really…?

Yuuri whirled on his heel and felt his breath catch in his throat. His mind raced faster than he could think and all the words died in his throat, caught up by the building sob. He stared at his fiance, who stood at the door of his classroom, donning his dress blues. His hair had been styled back and no matter how toned and built he had become in the military, Yuuri could still recognize his Vitya. His heart-shaped smile was placid and his broad shoulders relaxed, clothed underneath the heavy black coat. But his electric blue eyes, eyes that Yuuri had come to love so much, gave away his anticipation. In his white-gloved hands, he held a bouquet of red tulips.

“Go to him,” Phichit murmured next to him, touching his arm. Yuuri hadn’t realized that he had been frozen in place. He looked at Phichit, and then his students, who all gave him reassuring shouts and nods, many motioning. Victor stood at the door expectantly for him. 

Yuuri ran. His legs couldn’t move fast enough and even if it was only a couple of meters, it felt like Yuuri just couldn’t get to Victor fast enough. He slammed into his fiance, throwing his arms around his neck and Victor’s arms were instantly around shoulders, holding him close. His students around him broke out into applause, and Yuuri felt his tears spill down his face, holding onto his fiance. 

“What are you doing here?” Yuuri asked in disbelief, sobbing into his fiance’s shoulder.

Victor laughed and Yuuri had only then processed that he had been crying too, his laugh coming off watery and weak. His arms tightened around Yuuri, no matter how much they shook. “Isn’t it obvious?” Victor asked. “I’m here for your birthday party.”

Yuuri moved to look at his fiance. “You’re absolutely ridiculous. You know that? You drive me insane.” 

Victor grinned at him and pulled him back into their hug. “I’m also like, 100% sure this is some sort of violation of your contract, but I can honestly care less.”

“I have my tenure,” Yuuri joked. He pulled away and turned to Samantha, Julio, and Phichit, who all stood where Yuuri had left them. He then remembered that he was in class and whirled around to face his students. Many of them had their cell phones out to record, (blatantly disobeying Yuuri’s no-phone policy) and some with tears in their eyes. Hastily and a tad bit reluctantly, he smoothed his shirt out and smiled nervously to them. 

“Okay, that was like, really fucking cute,” one of his students had broken the quiet murmuring. “But Mr. Katsuki, that picture of the desktop does your fiance no justice!”

“He’s like, beefier,” another student said, pumping his arms in a mock-flex. 

“Beefier?” Yuuri heard Victor echo in confusion and slight offense,

“Mr. Katsuki, did you really not know he was coming home earlier? I thought Samantha and Julio were lying to just...I dunno...just to lie,” another student chimed in.

“Okay, I’m just gonna pretend that comment wasn’t offensive,” Julio said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Samantha and Julio…?” Yuuri breathed. He turned to see his two students, looking both accomplished and relieved. He wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but they were probably his favorite students he had in his 6 years of teaching. (Most likely because he saw himself in them.)

“Hi, I’m Julio Antonio Vargas and this is Samantha Tanaka and that’s Sergeant Victor Nikiforov and we orchestrated this giant thing,” Julio said to the camera Phichit was holding. “Our AP World History teacher’s homecoming surprise. And his birthday party that I ruined the surprise for.”

“Okay, but when can we start eating,” Belky announced, having put Julio’s phone down. 

“After I give a few words,” Yuuri said, moving from Victor’s side (and he suddenly realized how that painful it was) to the center of all the desks in his classroom. “First and foremost, I would like to thank each and every single one of you who brought me either or present, or food for my birthday potluck,” Yuuri pressed a hand to his chest, slipping easily into his ‘teacher voice’, “And I would also like to say that I love being your teacher. It’s only November, and school has only been in session for four months, but it’s quickly apparent to me that I enjoy each and every student in this class.” 

The classroom abrupted into ‘awws’ and Yuuri blushed, looking at the floor. He chuckled and looked up. “I sincerely appreciate all of your kindness you have demonstrated to me today,” Yuuri said, bowing deeply to his students. 

“Okay, okay, okay enough, enough mushy and gushy stuff. I know Samantha and Victor got Yuuri’s mom recipe for Katsudon and I am so here for that,” Phichit rubbed his hands together.

“They did?” Yuuri asked, and turned to look at his student, who rubbed her neck anxiously. “Is Victor the friend who you said helped you make the Katsudon?”

“And my dad,” Samantha pointed out anxiously. “The, uh, cool thing is that I usually know how to make food and I commit it to memory, which is why it comes out so good. But this time, I didn’t really know the recipe, but my dad and Victor said it still came out good, but I think it’s because they helped me too,” Samantha rubbed her hands together nervously.

“Aaaahhh Samantha,” Julio chirped, moving out of the way of the stream of students who came up to the table full of food, ready to eat. “Always so humble. One of her most charming personalities. But it’s a double-edged sword. She also lacks confidence,” Julio teased her and received a rib full of elbow. He wheezed and Samantha shook her head. “Come on, you’re helping me serve the Katsudon, Mr. McDonald’s employee.”

Yuuri laughed at his two students as they picked over to the table. He watched them fondly as they worked together perfectly as a pair. Julio would scoop the steamed rice into disposable bowls and Samantha would as add the cutlet, eggs, and sauce to the rice. He thought that their friendship was strong. No matter how much they picked on each other and argued, they seemed to perfectly round each other out. 

He felt a hand slip down his arm an over his, before interlocking their pinkies together. The warmth was familiar and a bubble of emotion rose to Yuuri’s throat. He didn’t have to look up to know it was Victor’s soft, familiar touch; not even the fabric of Victor’s uniform glove could hide the touch he had known for over half his life. A touch he hadn’t felt for half a decade but he could recognize like his own reflection in the mirror. 

“I don’t know your school’s policy, but I’m pretty we violated it with our hugs and whatnot,” Victor said softly, in the voice he reserved just for Yuuri. “But I’m pretty sure there’s nothing in it about this, right?”

“Pinkie holding?” Yuuri raised a brow and looking up at his fiance. A playful smirk graced his features, “Are we in the second grade?” He teased.

Victor laughed through his nose, shaking his head. “My usual Yuuri, I see. Sarcastic as ever.”

Yuuri’s heart fluttered as Victor and he locked eyes. The color in person was much brighter. He had forgotten that after looking at them through a screen for years. He moved his hand, fully entwining it with Victor’s. Tears shone in his earth-colored eyes. 

“Welcome home, my Vityenka.”

__________

Victor sat on the couch of their home drinking a warm cup of tea. It felt odd to be in civilian clothes. He was dressed in a simple striped shirt and grey pants. With his phone playing soft, easy listening music, he enjoyed the serenity of being home. It was still early morning, and a Saturday, so he didn’t expect Yuuri to be up. Besides, he still had trouble readjusting his sleeping schedule.

“Mmmmf,” came a grunt from behind him, at the arch of the door leading into the living room. Victor turned to see his fiance, wrapped in a thick fleece blanket. Victor huffed with laughter and set his tea down on the coffee table on top of him. 

“Come here,” He motioned to Yuuri with open arms. Yuuri, will a veil of sleep still thick over his eyes, padded over to Victor. His hair was sticking up in several different directions and his glasses were haphazardly placed on his face. He stopped in front of Victor in front of the couch before collapsing on top of him with a loud groan. Victor grinned and held him close, pressing kisses to the side of his face (kisses Yuuri leaned into.) 

“Why the hell are you up so early?” Yuuri complained. Victor nuzzled his cheek and Yuuri moved his arms from underneath the fleece blanket to around Victor’s neck. He pressed his cheek against Victor’s shoulder and fluttered his eyes shut. Victor took his glasses off for him and set them aside neatly.

“My Circadian Rhythm is just out of whack,” Victor said, tucking his chin atop Yuuri’s messy black hair. They sat together in comfortable silence, Yuuri in his lap and clinging to him. With the position of his head on his chest, Victor knew Yuuri was listening to his heartbeat. Victor slid his hair up into Yuuri’s locks, scratching his scalp soothingly, the way he new Yuuri liked. In return, Yuuri played with the wispy silver hairs at the nape of Victor’s neck. It had been too long since Victor held Yuuri like this. Too long since Yuuri was flushed against his chest, encircled by Victor’s loving embrace. He sometimes hated himself for joining the Marines and leaving Yuuri all alone. But those five years apart from Yuuri made him cherish moments like these.

“I love you, Vityenka,” Yuuri said softly, afraid to break the silence, Victor knew. His heart still fluttered at his fiance’s words and he nudged Yuuri’s face with his nose, willing him to look up. He held Yuuri’s gaze, eyes soft and tender. He brought a hand up to Yuuri’s cheek, and Yuuri wrapped his hand around Victor’s wrist, pressing his cheek closer to Victor’s hand and fluttering his eyes shut. Victor’s thumb stroked Yuuri’s jaw and he leaned in, brushing his lips against Yuuri’s. Yuuri’s eyes opened slightly, his breath warm against Victor’s lips. Just as Victor went in to steal a kiss, Yuuri yawned right in his face with strong morning breath. 

Both of them froze for a hot second. Yuuri’s eyes had snapped open, staring at Victor in shock. Victor recovered from his shock quicker than Yuuri did, breaking into loud, barking laughter because that was probably the least romantic thing ever, but it was very comforting to Yuuri because it was the most Yuuri thing that he could have ever done. 

“Stop laughing!” Yuuri complained, wiggling out of his grip to flop over onto the couch, hiding his face into the couch cushion and whining. He curled up into a fetal position. “Oh my god, that ruined the moment!” 

“Oh, my sweet, sweet, Yuuri,” Victor cackled, laying down next to him and sandwiching Yuuri between his body and the couch. He wrapped an arm around his waist and nuzzled the back of his neck, where his blush had extended to. 

“The first weekend of my fiance being back and I yawn in his face,” Yuuri groaned, moving to face Victor. Victor, catching him by surprise, pulled Yuuri to lay on top of him, propping his own head on the arm of the couch. 

“Can I have a kiss now?” Victor asked, arms locked around Yuuri’s waist. Yuuri propped himself up by his arms on either side of Victor’s head. He looked down at his fiance, who only puckered his lips comically. Yuuri snorted and learned it, placing a small, chaste kiss on his lips. 

Victor whined at that. “Really?”

“I can’t kiss you with your lips all funky like that,” Yuuri laughed before leaning down to properly kiss Victor, reveling in the feeling of his lips for a minute. Victor’s phone chimed with a message. Yuuri tried to pull away but Victor’s hands moved, keeping him in place to keep the kiss going for a while longer. When they finally broke, Victor leaned over, careful with the young man on top of him, and grabbed his phone from the coffee table. Yuuri adjusted himself, moving his head onto VIctor’s chest. Victor practically melted at the action. Yuuri wasn’t one to proclaim his feelings much. He'd rather demonstrate them. He was always physically affectionate with Victor, so much so that not being able to hold his dear Yuuri for so long was absolute agony for him. 

“It’s from Phichit,” Victor said, using his thumb to unlock his phone and pressed the message from their Thai friend.

“What does he need?” Yuuri asked, moving so he could see Victor’s screen. 

“Oh!” Victor grinned, pressing the link that appeared on Phichit’s text message. A screen popped up, redirecting him to his browse and to the latest vlog post Phichit had made. “He finally uploaded the video from your surprise!”

“Oh god, he actually posted that?” Yuuri asked, squirming in Victor’s arms. “I don’t even think all my students are allowed to be in that video.” 

“Actually, Julio and Samantha took care of that. They had everyone fill out waivers with parent permission.” Victor said matter-of-factly.

“Of course they did,” Yuuri huffed. Victor grinned and pressed more kisses to the top of Yuuri’s head. Yuuri leaned into them, relaxing in his arms.

“Okay, play it,” Yuuri said. Victor gladly did so.

The video began with Julio and Samantha fumbling with keys at Yuuri’s classroom doors. “Oh god, if you can’t open the door Julio, I’m seriously kicking your as-” Samantha’s curse was cut off by a ‘ _bleep_ ' looking impatient as she carried what looked like a box that held Yuuri’s birthday cake. “Kick it all you want, sweetie. I’ll tell your mom. She’s been wanting to put you up for adoption anyways.” 

A shot of Julio letting the keys clatter to the grown and then there was a shot of a close up to Samantha’s face, looking horrified. “Did you drop the keys?”

“I dropped the keys and it slid under the door,” Julio said off camera. 

“Motherfu-”

Before Samantha could complete her curse, the scene cut away to the iconic intro for the Tired Guys, and then once more to Phichit standing in front of the high school front entrance. It was completely void of students, and seeing as the sky behind Phichit was still dark to a degree, Victor knew it was very early morning. “Hey guys, it’s Phichit Chulanont here, and I’m gonna take you guys along on a nice journey starring two of my best friends who are engaged.”

The scene cut away to familiar pictures to Victor. Pictures from their high school days in colorful windbreakers and mom jeans. Yuuri always was more pop-punk, wearing band tees and converse with cuffed jeans and sweaters around his waist. Phichit was in several pictures with them, wearing his backward cap and shutter shades. Victor snorted at Phichit’s sandals with jeans. In the 90s and early 2000s, they were walking fashion atrocities. 

Phichit’s voice narrated over each picture. “My best friend is Katsuki Yuuri, and his fiance is also a very close friend of mine, and his name is Sergeant Victor Nikiforov. We all grew up together in SoCal, and along with other friends, we were essentially the Losers Club from it, minus the psycho clown trying to murder us,” The picture cut away to Yuuri, Phichit, Victor, Chris, Leo, Guang-Hong, and Emil’s head all photoshopped onto a picture of the Losers’ Club. 

“Yuuri and Victor started dating in high school after years of annoying pining, and when we graduate high school, and went through college, Yuuri proposed to Victor before he left to the Marine Corps. Right after boot camp and his initial training,” the picture changed this time to Victor at the end of his Boot Camp Graduation, absolutely beaming as Yuuri stood next to him, arms around each other’s waists, beaming at the camera. Victor cringed at his short-cropped hair, hating that he had to shave it off to a buzz. “Victor was deployed only weeks after. Yuuri didn’t get to see him after his graduation because he was busy starting his job as a teacher, and didn’t get many sick days or days off.” 

Victor felt Yuuri curl further into him, clutching the fabric of his shirt tighter. Victor kissed his head, running his finger through his hair and continuing to watch the video.

“But! After five long years, Victor is back. He’ll be arriving in about,” Phichit snapped his fingers and the video cut, to much later in the morning with Victor standing beside him in his dress blues. It was quite odd to see himself in a video he knew would garner a lot of views. “Now.” Phichit finished his sentence after the cutscene, and Victor realized why it had taken him so long to film the beginning of their first video, as well as why he said now so many times. 

“Vikky, my dude, why don’t you introduce yourself?” Phichit asked, swiveling towards Victor.

Victor nodded, his hands in the video folded neatly in front of him, his posture firm yet at ease as he had been taught. “My name is Sergeant Victor Mikhailovich Nikiforov, I worked in a communication battalion for the United States Marine Corps. I am engaged to the most handsome man ever to exist.” He grinned handsomely at the camera.

Yuuri reached up and pressed the pause button on Vicor’s phone. “You said I was the most handsome man ever to exist?” Yuuri complained. His face exploded a bright red color, reaching the tip of his ears.

“Is it a lie?” Victor asked, grinning mischievously as used his free arm to smush Yuuri closer to his chest and attack the top of his head with kisses.

“What are they gonna say when they see me in the video and I’m not,” Yuuri complained.

“They’re gonna see you and they’ll all fall for your good looks. And then I’m gonna have to do it. I’m gonna have to fight the world to keep you mine.” Victor said seriously.

Yuuri snorted and cupped Victor’s face, kissing him. “You’re ridiculous.” Victor grinned at him when he broke the kiss, before giving him another small peck and pressing play on the video.

“We also had help from two very special guests on today’s vlog,” Phichit’s continued on screen. “Two of Yuuri’s Sophomore students in his AP world history class.”

The image changed and Julio appeared on screen, in the history building as Yuuri recognized. He was dressed in his outfit the day of Victor’s homecoming: a grey vest, white button on, purple bowtie and black skinny jeans. His dark hair had been styled back into a comb-over. “Hey my name is Julio Antonio Vargas, I’m a gay trans male, one of Mr. Katsuki’s students, his favorite even if he won’t admit it, and I get like three hours of sleep so I’m made of 76 percent coffee. Oh! And I love karaoke.” The Filipino teen introduced himself.

“He had a lot of trouble getting that out in one breath believe it or not,” Victor mused.

“He didn’t have his binder on too tight, did he?” Yuuri’s brows furrowed with worry as he looked up at Victor.

“No, I think it was his bowtie,” Victor said, rubbing Yuuri’s back to relax him, “he didn’t tie it right so I re-tied it for him.” Yuuri nodded in understanding, relaxing on VIctor’s chest. 

The picture changed again and this time, Samantha was on the screen. Instead of being at school, however, Samantha was in a home, dressed in a light sweater and black shorts. “My name is Samantha Takana, I’m a Japanese-Nigerian and I also have been diagnosed with dyslexia. My dream is to make it big on Buzzfeed, and I like paying entirely in change when my best friend Julio is working his cashier shift at McDonald’s to make his life hell.” 

The video then showed Phichit at the same house Samantha was. “Okay, it’s one day to Yuuri’s surprise birthday, so I’m here with Samantha, Julio, and Victor to make Yuuri’s favorite food, known as Katsudon, or, in English, pork cutlet bowls. Joining us is going to be some of my favorite people in the world, the rest of the Tired guys.”

The rest of Phichit’s co-vloggers, Kevin, Nate, and Joseph all danced onto the screen, cheering at room-level. Samantha, in the background, had absolute stars in her eyes as she squealed with excitement. “We gotta crank out Katsudon for about 36 people, with a recipe Yuuri’s mom gave us, and help from Samantha’s dad, Fred Tanaka, so let’s get to it!” Phichit clapped his hand. 

After a sequence of making the Katsudon, setting up for Yuuri’s party (which much bickering between Samantha and Julio), and scrambling to hide Victor with Yuri’s help, the video finally arrived to what Yuuri could recognize. He watched himself walking into his own classroom from a hidden camera Phichit had set up in his classroom beforehand. Then, the screen split into four screens. The first was a screen with Victor watching through a Facetime video call (and it was then that Yuuri realized what Belky and Julio had been doing at the beginning of class). The second was the hidden camera Yuuri had seen before. The third was a student-held camera at a different angle, much closer to Yuuri (and judging by the excited chatter, Yuuri guessed it was his student, Gabby). The final screen was completely dark. 

“This is really weird. It feels like one of those found footage movies,” he mumbled and Victor let out an amused snort.

“I’m the ghost who gets you in the end,” he said.

“Is it because you’re so drop dead gorgeous?” Yuuri asked nonchalantly. Victor made a muffled screaming noise and Yuuri knew he was a blushing mess.

Yuuri watched the video recount the things he remembered. Being seated in the center of his classroom, having his foot grabbed by Julio when talking about Quinceñeras, having margarine smeared onto his nose, and Samantha and Julio talking the class through several birthday traditions. Yuuri kept his eyes most of the time on the screen where Victor was visible, heart clenching at the sight of Victor’s laughter and smile whenever Julio and Samantha pulled a stunt. At Yuuri insistence on opening presents in the video, Victor gained an edge of concern in his expression.

“You nearly threw off our plans,” Victor laughed. “Such an insistent one,” Victor teased.

“I knew something was up,” Yuuri huffed. 

The video finally arrived at the point where Yuuri was opening the giant boxed present. The fourth black video screen came to life, yet screen was still dark. The only indication was ruffling coming from the fourth screen. On Victor’s screen, it turned off as Victor stood, straightening his uniform and grabbing the bouquet for Yuuri. Yuuri guessed Victor had begun to make his way towards Yuuri’s classroom. Following Julio’s impassioned speech, Yuuri and Julio’s hug, and Yuuri opening the box, the darkened screen came to life as Phichit leaped out of the box and shouted “Surprise!” 

Soft, piano music began to play as the corner camera captured Victor stepping into the door and standing under the doorframe. When he spoke, Yuuri groaned at the stupid look on his face when he stood in shock, staring at his fiance. He teared up when he finally sprinted towards Victor, holding him tight. The camera kept rolling a while longer, but it went back to a single screen view, zooming into different students as tears pricked in their eyes and Julio and Samantha, looking proud as they wrapped their arms around each other’s waist and shoulders, respectively.

“Mr. Katsuki and Sergeant Nikiforov are the cutest couples,” one of his students appeared on camera when the actual party started to take place. She held a bowl of Katsudon in her hands. 

Another student appeared on the screen. “Mr. Katsuki is the best teacher ever.” 

“Thank you Sergeant Nikiforov for serving our country and I wish you and Mr. Katsuki happiness in the future!”

“I’m thankful for Mr. Katsuki being born today because we get to eat cake after crying.” 

“Tag yourself, I’m Julio wiping away tears after crying.” 

“Mr. Katsuki you’re the best!” 

“ _Mazel tov_!” One of his students cheered, downing a can of coke. 

A final shot of Victor and Yuuri standing together, pinkies intertwined, and grinning up at each other appeared on the screen before it faded out with the final chords of the piano music. Victor’s phone screen lit up, asking for options to move onto the next video or replay the video.

Victor set his phone aside on the coffee table, next to his now cold tea, and looked at Yuuri with shining eyes. Yuuri shifted up to look at him, eyes now completely wide awake. He shifted up, cupping Victor’s face and kissing him. Victor’s heart leaped at the feeling and kissed him back, having to awkwardly move his head. It was perfect, either way. After five years of not seeing him, any touch from Yuuri was perfect. Absolutely perfect. 

“I love you, my Yuuri,” Victor whispered after their kiss broke. 

Yuuri simply kissed him again. And Victor had never felt more at home in his life. 

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos make my day
> 
> Comments make it even better!!
> 
> (BTW, Julio is dedicated to my sweet, sweet Elliot!)


End file.
